Question of the Day - 07 September 2024

Well, you can make an educated guess about a casino's general return percentage at slots based on the generosity of its video poker paytables. Of course, since you can determine the exact return percentage of a video poker machine by the paytable and you can't tell anything about a slot machine's, it can never be a direct correlation. But some assumptions can be made. 

For example, casinos that offer favorable video poker paytables often aim to attract more informed or discerning players who are aware of paytable differences and their impact on return percentages. These are the casinos that know they're in the gambling business. This suggests that the casino might also offer more competitive slot machine payouts to appeal to these players.

The reverse is also true. If a casino puts out poor video poker paytables, it follows to assume that ownership and management are more focused on maximizing profits from less informed players, or just want to get the money faster, which could imply lower return percentages on their slot machines as well.

So as we say, though it's certainly not a guarantee, there's a possible -- and many believe probable -- correlation between slot and video poker return percentages. You can also find hints in players club generosity, or lack thereof, as that can also speak to the overall philosophy of the casino's owners. In most cases, though, the video poker returns are the only factor you can look to for a hint regarding the slots. 

Note: This doesn't include the increasing number of "AP slots" that are quantifiable. Some of these are addressed in the recently released 3rd edition of Gambling 102.